South Korean budget airline Jeju Air launched Thursday a direct flight from Seoul to Phu Quoc, Vietnam’s largest island in the southern Kien Giang Province.

The new route connects the Incheon International Airport in Seoul with the Phu Quoc International Airport, around five kilometers from Duong Dong Town, the capital of Phu Quoc. The flight takes around five hours.

The launch of the daily air route comes as demand for travel to Japan has fallen since July this year, the airline said in a statement Friday.

South Koreans have been boycotting Japanese goods and services after Japan implemented export restrictions of key materials to South Korea, Yonhap News Agency reported.

South Korean airlines have halted or reduced services on routes to Japan, expanding flights to other countries.

Jeju Air shifted to a net loss of $27 million in the third quarter of 2019 from a net profit of $26.3 million a year earlier. 

A notorious prison site during the French colonial times, Phu Quoc dubbed Vietnam’s ‘pearl’ island, has gained worldwide popularity in recent years. It opened an international airport in 2012 and has been implementing a 30-day visa-free policy for foreigners since 2014.

The number of tourists to Phu Quoc has increased substantially over the last few years and there has been a rapid growth of resorts and tourist service projects on the island.

Phu Quoc received 3.9 million tourist arrivals in the first nine months of this year, up 33.2 percent from a year ago. Of these, 541,600 were foreigners.

Last year, more than 3.4 million South Koreans visited Vietnam, a 44 percent rise year-on-year, accounting for 22 percent of all international arrivals, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.

In the first nine months of 2019, Vietnam welcomed 3.1 million South Koreans, up 22.5 percent against the same period last year.